Sonic the Hedgehog on a Nintendo console? 10 years ago, if I'd of said that to a hardcore gaming fanatic, they'd have laughed in my face, then gotten all of their geeky friends to beat me up with their braces.
Now though, it's reality (Sonic on a Nintendo game, not the beating up story). Sonic has come out for the most hallowed of Consoles, The GameBoy Advance.
~ What’s it all about (Alfie) ~
Before Sonic, the now world famous Hedgehog, SEGA fans had to put up with people like Michael Jackson on the front of their SEGA boxes. Not cool. Not cool at all…
It was hard enough for Sega to start with. Nintendo had a lot of die-hard fans built up and all SEGA had was a 16-bit console and loads of money. One of the ways Nintendo had got so many fans was through there mascot, the ever popular, Mario, and, occasionally, his brother Luigi.
Yugi Naka (funny name) and Naoto Oshima were the two people given the burden of making a superstar from scratch. The main idea was for the character to be instantly likeable and playable.
They first gave sonic the ability to pick things up, but this made it harder for first-time gamers to play, so they gave him his spike on his back, put a jump attack in the mix, along with a bottle full of attitude
and a cheeky face and they’d created Sega’s biggest claim to fame ever.
Loads of sonic games have been brought out over the years with new friends being put into the blender ever so often.
Sonics Friends:
Miles ‘Tails’ Prower
Tails was the first friend added to the Sonic collection. Famous for his two tails and his and ability to fly, Mile ‘Tails’ Prower (as is his full name) is like a little tag along of Sonic and can be seen on a few games just to be simply following him for no reason at all.
Knuckles the Enchida
Knuckles is kind of like Sonics cousin. He has a lot more extra, like being able to fly and climb up wall as well as the powers Sonic has but, he just cannot live up to his more famous cousin.
Amy Rose
Amy is just for the experts really. See has no special powers, no ability to fly, nothing. In relation to Sonic, she could be his sister. She looks like him, but skinnier and in a Dress. Sort of… Sonic also has one deadly enemy, the evil Eggman (or Doctor Robotnik as he was known in the early days). He was once a good scientist who was working with the chao emeralds when something went wrong and he turned evil. Now he makes an appearance wherever Sonic is gets beaten most of the time.
~ The Objective of the game ~
The objective is to retrieve all of the chao emerald while getting rid of Eggman. Oh yeah, Eggman has also changed all of the animals into robots that hamper you ambitions at ever chance. Once you have killed one of the robots, an animal is freed and you get extra points. Which is cool.
Along the way as well, you collect rings. These rings help you stay alive. As long as you always have a ring you will always stay alive. If you don’t have any though and you get hit by an enemy, its one life lost for you buddy. If you get hit by an enemy, with rings, you lose all of them. Ain’t it sad? 100 rings get you an extra life.
After you have Killed Eggman you get a big crater full of animals, which you must open, using the button on the top, to finish the level.
~ Level ~
Each level has two acts of which you must complete to get to the next level. The acts are based on the same theme but are set out differently and the second is usually harder.
Also, on Act 2 you face Eggman. You must hit him in various ways to get past him.
I shall now give a run through of themes for the first few Levels:
Level 1: Neo Green Hill Zone.
A half Forest, half jungle type thing.
Level 2: Secret Army Base
What it says on tin.
Level 3: Casino
A Vegas based level full of pinball machines and bright lights.
I shall give you no more as it will spoil you pleasure…
~ Graphics ~
The graphics are almost identical to the ones from the Sega Megadrive, all in 2D, all still looking as great as ever.
The thing is though that I fell that very little effort has been put into changing the level from the Sega, 16-bit console to the mega flashy GBA, which is 32-bit. They could add a little bit of 3D. But then again, it would spoil the magic of Sonic 1 and 2 (which they stole the levels from).
~ Sound ~
The sound, yet again, is exactly the same as it was on the Megadrive. I still get buzzes when I hear the music when I get the invincibility power.
Yet again, I feel that they have done little more than convert it from one console to a different one with little or no effort. Still, that invincibility music is great.
~ Extras ~
Yes, there is an extra with SA. It is the little cyber pet that you get. You can buy him food or toys with the rings you earn on levels. The cyber pet can be called anything you want it to be, but its species is chao.
The other extras are the ability to play against another person, via a link cable. You can do this by using just ONE, yes ONE cartridge. I don’t know how but it will be the same way as Mario Kart: Super Circuit, I bet’cha.
Another is the Race against time. In his, you can do the levels that you’ve unlocked but you get timed. The records are then saved and remembered for next time.
Another thing that I seem to of forgot to say about to auto save thing. It saves it when you get past a level and lets you turn the GameBoy advance off and then play on any of the levels you’ve been on.
~ Conclusion ~
This game is for any body that has not played on Sonic before of is a true sonic fan. Anyone in-between, steer clear. I bought it for £19 on special offer and completed it in less than 24 hours. BOOOOORING!
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